CDU and CSU agree to accept 200,000 refugees per year

On Sunday 8 October, the parties forming the German CDU/CSU conservative union struck an agreement concerning the maximum number of 200,000 individuals accepted per year on humanitarian grounds. The deal has been received with scepticism particularly by the Greens whom chancellor Angela Merkel plans to include in future coalition talks.

According to the agreement, the reduced number of arriving individuals has to be achieved through protection of the EU’s external borders and combating the root causes of migration. The upper limit is being regarded as “soft”, meaning the country will not turn additional incomers away at its borders and the government and Bundestag will be able to raise or lower the limit in extraordinary cases. Besides refugees, the deal also includes their family members incoming under the terms of family reunification but on the contrary does not curtail the number of arriving qualified workers. Critical voices are coming especially from the Greens who traditionally reject any form of limitations and are criticising the “strictly formal” character of the agreement. Likewise, officials from the FDP party, a third potential member of the so-called “Jamaica” coalition, have already insisted the agreement cannot simply be copied into a future coalition deal. The intricate negotiations on the next German government thus could easily extend until next year.